Currently the following statement appears in the licensing FAQ (last half of second paragraph in the answer to Q9 → ):
However, Drupal's JavaScript, including the copy of jQuery that is included with Drupal, is itself under the GPL as well, so any Javascript that interacts with Drupal's JavaScript in the browser must also be under the GPL or a GPL compatible license.
This statement is actually wrong.
If you check the license of the copy of jQuery that ships with Drupal (and is the JavaScript component in Drupal that JavaScript libraries interact with), the reality is this:
misc/jquery.js)core/assets/vendor/jquery/jquery.js)I think a reality check is needed here. PHP is released under some flavour of the GPL (strong copyleft), but JavaScript is usually, including the version of jQuery that ships with Drupal, released under MIT (permissive), and the dual licensing does not make the MIT license void.
As pointed put in the first half of the same paragraph of the FAQ:
However, when distributing your own Drupal-based work, it is important to keep in mind what the GPL applies to. The GPL on code applies to code that interacts with that code, but not to data. That is, Drupal's PHP code is under the GPL, and so all PHP code that interacts with it must also be under the GPL or GPL compatible. Images, JavaScript, and Flash files that PHP sends to the browser are not affected by the GPL because they are data.
The next paragraoh says:
When distributing your own module or theme, therefore, the GPL applies to any pieces that directly interact with parts of Drupal that are under the GPL. Images and Flash files you create yourself are not affected. However, if you make a new image based off of an image that is provided by Drupal under the GPL, then that image must also be under the GPL.
This is no longer always correct. We now permit images to be distributed as mere aggregates, under other licenses than GPL (e.g CC BY).
I will therefore suggest that we amend the second paragraph of the answer to Q9 in the FAQ to be, in full:
However, when distributing your own Drupal-based work, it is important to keep in mind what the GPL applies to. The GPL on code applies to code that interacts with that code, but not to data. That is, Drupal's PHP code is under the GPL, and so all PHP code that interacts with it must also be under the GPL or GPL compatible. Images, JavaScript, CSS, and Flash files that PHP sends to the browser are not affected by the GPL because they are data.
And the following is deleted from the second paragraph of the answer to Q9:
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It's likely this issue predates Contrib.social: some issue and comment data are missing.
Images, JavaScript, CSS, and Flash files that PHP sends to the browser are not affected by the GPL because they are data.
I'm not sure this is true - JavaScript can still be affected by the GPL.
What about just removing the incorrect jQuery reference and a separate issue for the broader changes?